Monday, May 24, 2010

You can’t help but chuckle a little at BP’s letter to EPA last Friday. The company’s CEO, Tony Hayward, writes in the letter, “we share with you a strong commitment to transparency,” but just seventy miles away from the “incident response center,” the view looks a little different.

Enter Mother Jones reporter Mac McClelland and colleague Dr. John Hazlett, trying to get to Elmer’s Island, a Katrina-wrought yet still tourist-trafficked coastal settlement with a population of 1,500. For almost a month now, oil has been washing up on the Elmer’s Island beaches.

Unfortunately for McClelland and Hazlett, BP’s “transparency” took the form of a four squad car roadblock. McClelland’s journey for the coast would go on to be hampered by two BP press goons, a sheriff’s deputy, and a fire chief. Their explanation: “BP’s in charge because it’s BP’s oil.”

1 comment:

Support Our Work

Last year Big Oil and other corporate polluters spent a record $168 million lobbying Congress. They’ve launched an unprecedented smear campaign to defeat comprehensive climate legislation and protect their profits.

Making matters worse, a recent Supreme Court ruling opens the floodgates for oil companies like Exxon Mobil to tap their vast corporate profits to also influence the outcome of federal elections.

We need your help now more than ever to continue building on the important progress we’ve made towards creating a cleaner, more sustainable future.